Review: EdTechTeacher

Here is a suggestion of a website that is sure updated in terms of technology in teaching. Not only that, it is also a promise to keep teachers in touch with what's new and provide training.

It's worth taking a look at its categories. Access EdTechTeacher here: http://edtechteacher.org/

I leave here a reading suggestion of two nice articles that can definitely help teachers who are getting started with technological gadgets in class.

1. Basic Tips for Getting Started

Access it here: http://edtechteacher.org/index.php/teaching-technology/85-basic-tips

2. Transforming Student Learning With Technology

Access it here: http://edtechteacher.org/index.php/teaching-technology/9-teaching-technology

by Melody Pablos

Podcast: Accents and Language Teaching from ELT Podcast

In this Podcast from ELT Podcast - The Teachers' Lounge, the speakers discuss the pronunciation of some words which can sound different or the same depending on what part of the USA someone is from. The starting point is a quiz which aims at showing people where their accent is from in the USA.

 The speakers are:

• Bill Pellowe, Kinki University Kyushu School of Engineering, and ELT Calendar.
• Robert Chartrand, Kurume University.
• Kevin Ryan, Showa Women's University, the University of Tokyo and kevinryan.com.

Since one of them is Canadian, the discussion about how to pronounce such words get more interesting. At the end, they briefly discuss how to handle accents in class.

As they discuss the words presented in the quiz during the Podcast, I suggest you take the quiz first to get acquainted with the vocabulary they mention. Just click the link to go to the quiz:

www.gotoquiz.com/what_american_accent_do_you_have

After taking the quiz, click on the play button to listen to the podcast.
Link to the podcast: www.eltpodcast.com/archive/lounge/accents.html

by Melody Pablos

Candies for new teachers: Episode 2

Quiz: “What kind of teacher am I?”

Have you have ever thought about what kind of teacher you are? Answering the quiz “What kind of teacher am I?”, which is based on the theory of multiple intelligences, will help you to gain awareness about your teaching and learning styles.

1. Go to http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/

2. At the bottom of the page, look for “Tools for teacher” and click on “What kind of teacher am I?”

3. Complete the quiz and find out what kind of “animal” you are when it comes to teaching.

I am a polar bear! And you?

At the end of the quiz you receive some suggestions to plan your lessons according to your teaching style. What fun!

by Denise Emerici

Review: Word Reference

Word Reference is probably one of the most used free online dictionaries. Maybe because it is close to being complete in many ways. It not only brings you the definition of the words in English, but its main triumph lies in the variety of languages available for translation.

Besides the word by word translation, you can also find examples and collocations, and a direct link to threads in their own forum.

Their is also a direct link to other words that appear in the definition. You just have to click on it. (Parts available will turn yellow when you pass the cursor over).

Both students and teachers can profit a lot from this website, especially their forum. It is very well-organized, divided by languages and categories. I strongly recommend you read the rules before posting a question, so that you don't have any problems with the administrators. It usually doesn't take long for someone to reply and there are lots of users that will give you not only their opinions but also reference in literature. Another interesting aspect is that there are users from all over the world, which enriches even more this experience of sharing knowledge.

Give Word Reference a try: wordreference.com

by Melody Pablos

University of Oxford: Free Podcasts

You don’t need to fly to the United Kingdom toattend lectures at Oxford. A huge variety of lecturesis available on the university’s website. Click on Departments &Colleges (Step 1) and select the field you are interested in and a long list ofspeeches will be displayed.

In one of the lectures, Chaucer, which is particularly interesting for the ones who want to go further on English language and literature, Professor Daniel Wakelin discusses the work of the English poet Chaucer and explains how the poet was one of the first to use every day spoken English as a literary language in the 14th Century.

nd the select Chaucer from the list (Step 3).

Access the podcasts here: http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/


by Denise Emerici

Candies for new teachers: Episode 1

Have you just started teaching English?

If your answer is “yes”, good news: you are not alone! Although I have previous teaching knowledge (I taught Portuguese for more than 10 years!), I ‘ve got to deal with different challenges as I’m a beginner on the matter of English language teaching! Planning my career, gathering appropriate teaching material and keeping on improving my English skills are my current teaching efforts.
You are invited to follow the series Candies for new teachers and contribute sharing ideas. Will you?

Candies for new teachers: Episode I - I know that I don’t know!

When we decided to create this blog we needed to come up with a website hotlist. I had heard about some of them but to be sincere, I hadn’t searched for so much information. Then I realized that being exposed to such interesting material would help me to improve my career. One of these websites is The British Council's Teaching English.

Some sections specifically called my attention. Try clicking on Teacher development (Step 1), then on Continuing professional development (Step 2) and you will find Ideas for planning your career. Apart a video, you can find a chart “Which stage are you at?” where you can assess your journey as a teacher of English:

Choose your stage as teacher and open a webpage where you can find resources and tools that can help you to plan how to improve your career. Let’s see one as an example, click on Newly qualified:

Clicking on the session Planning your development at this stage will you find articles, links and downloads.

Now it is up to you!

by Denise Emerici

Review: Phonetics - The sounds of spoken language

This website is a useful tool for teachers and students who are keen on phonetics. If you feel part of this group, this section of the University of Iowa's website is a must. There you will find both chart and video where you can check how the American English sounds are articulated.

When you select American English, a pop-up window will open. This is what you will see:

You can choose a category from the top menu. The only requirement is to have Flash 7 or higher to be able to see all the content of the website. In case you don't have it, there is a link there for you to download it.

Access it here: http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#


by Denise Emerici

Review: Braz-Tesol website

If you are a Brazilian English teacher, you may have heard about the country's largest association of teachers of English to speakers of other languages. If you haven't yet, this tour through their website will help you get familiar with it. We strongly recommend you become a member to take full advantage of all they have to offer.

Braz-Tesol (or BT) is a not-for-profit organization with a membership of over 2,000 professionals, an affiliate of TESOL International (US), IATEFL (UK) and a member of Southern Cone TESOL (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay). (definition from their own website)

Becoming a member is quite simple. Just click on Join Us!, choose from Individual member or Institutional member (in case of a school) and fill in the form. The membership is R$65 a year for an individual membership and R$235 for an institutional one (which gives the institution the right to take 4 members to events).

You get lots of benefits by joining this team, such as printed Newsletter; participation in events at reduced rates; access to exclusive areas of site, including Employment Section; regular communications; access to exclusive content of the Special Interest Groups (SIGs); discounts in courses, etc. You can also become a volunteer and work for BT.

How about connecting to this community now? Go to www.braztesol.org.br

by Melody Pablos

Podcast: Multiple Intelligences and Emotional Intelligence by Professor Todd

As teachers, one of our greatest challenges is working and catering for all of our students’ needs. We are often faced with a multiple-intelligence class; however, teachers are rarely instructed on how to succeed in such environment. Here is a podcast that is meant to set some light onto Multiple Intelligences and Emotional Intelligence and help educators in making better decisions when preparing lesson plans.


32-Multiple Intelligences and EQ by Professor Todd

Summary: There is more than one way of being smart. This podcast explores Howard Gardener’s concept of multiple intelligences and Daniel Goleman’s book Emotional Intelligence.

1. You need iTunes do listen to it. In case you don’t have it, click on Free download to install iTunes on your computer (Step 1).

2. Then, just click on View in iTunes (Step 2) to listen to the podcast.

3. If you already have iTunes installed, you can start in Step 2.

Access the podcast here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/great-ideas-in-psychology/id274610917

by Melody Pablos

Webquest: Teachers' Development - Free Course in England

Target audience: English teachers

Introduction

How many times have you thought about developing professionally but didn’t even know where to start from? The internet has undoubtedly opened doors. On the other hand, how to choose amongst a myriad of websites and resources? Most of us have already faced this quandary and many of us might even have got demotivated. Here is an activity to help you get started using websites for professional development.


Task

You are eager to develop professionally but don’t know where to start from, when you see the following add in an online professional magazine and decide to enter the contest:

Process

1- Access the websites and look for information that may lead you to attain your professional growth.

2- Compile the information and share with some people in your group, taking into account the relevance for professional development.

3- Write an essay saying how these websites may help you attain professional goals.


The Resources

• www.educationuk.org
• www.cambridgeesol.org
• www.braztesol.org.br

Evaluation

You are going to be evaluated on the basis of selection of online information, discussion with your group and the essay.ConclusionUsing the internet to find ways of professional growth requires some analytical skills to find the most appropriate websites and select the information that may be fruitful. This task may be an introduction to the use of the internet as means through which one may be in contact with some tools for professional networking and qualification.


Conclusion

Using the internet to find ways of professional growth requires some analytical skills to find the most appropriate websites and select the information that may be fruitful. This task may be an introduction to the use of the internet as means through which one may be in contact with some tools for professional networking and qualification.

by Wil Onishi

Podcast - Steven Pinker on Language and Thought

Think of the ways language, thought, selection and combination of words, what is happening in the mind all relate to each other.

How about listening to the linguist Steven Pinker talking about language and thought? In this video from TED Talks, you will see a preview of his book The Stuff of Thought.

by Wil Onish

Review: Forvo - How do you pronounce…?

There we are, in the middle of the class preparation when suddenly that name or word, unpronounceable, just like this one. Worst of all, chances are that it won’t be in a dictionary...and now, what can we do? Use Forvo, of course.

This is what the website looks like:

Forvo is more than the usual pronunciation guide. You may find thousands of words pronounced by people from all over the world, and best of all, once you log in, you may contribute as well, recording the pronunciation of words in your own language, which may help other users.

So, how do you find the pronunciation? All you’ve got to do is type the word in the search box and go.

Then, click on the “play” icon in the result and listen to the recording. It comes with information like male or female and where the person is from.

If you’re a teacher, I’m sure you’re going to love this website for your personal use and to develop some activities to teach pronunciation to your students. If you’re a student, you’ll find a very useful guide with authentic recordings made by native speakers, in several cases with varieties of English that you may not find in a usual hardcopy dictionary.

Now check the pronunciation of ‘unpronounceable’ to get started in the world of Forvo.

http://www.forvo.com/

by Wil Onishi